Green Lantern Shows No Fear at the Box Office

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.

DC Entertainment’s first major release based on a DC Comics character since its formation, Green Lantern (Warner Bros.), starring Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Mark Strong, Peter Sarsgaard and Tim Robbins, opened relatively weak with an estimated $52.6 million, averaging $13.8k in 3,916 2D and 3D theaters. After doing more in Thursday midnights than the recent X-Men: First Class, it took in roughly $21.6 million on Friday but then had a substantial drop on Saturday, which doesn’t bode well for any sort of long-term success. Overseas, the film opened in 15 markets and earned $17 million.

J.J. Abrams’ Super 8 (Paramount) held up well in its second weekend, off just 40% to take second place with roughly $21.2 million. It has grossed $72 million domestically in its first ten days compared to its reported production budget of $50 million. The movie earned an additional $12.5 million at the foreign box office to take its total to $22 million.

Jim Carrey returned with the family comedy Mr. Popper’s Penguins (20th Century Fox), based on a children’s book from the ’30s, and it performed rather disappointingly, making roughly $18.2 million in 3,339 theaters. Although it opened in second place Friday with $6.4 million, it didn’t have the normal Saturday bump family movies usually get, possibly because schools are out for the summer in many areas, so it ended up being passed by Super 8, forcing it to settle for third place.

The Matthew Vaughn-directed superhero prequel X-Men: First Class (20th Century Fox) brought in $11.5 million in its third weekend and it’s grossed roughly $120 million in those three weeks in North America. The film added $21.2 million overseas for an international total of $163.2 million.

Todd Phillips’ comedy sequel The Hangover Part II dropped to fifth with $9.6 million as it held its place as the highest-grossing movie of the year domestically with $232 million after a month in theaters. Internationally, the sequel earned $21.4 million to bring its total to $256 million and a worldwide total of $488 million, which surpasses the $468 million earned by 2009’s The Hangover to become the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time.

DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 2 also dropped two places with $8.7 million and $143 million domestically. Internationally, the movie added another $52.5 million to take its overseas gross to $280 million.

Dropping to 7th place, Kristen Wiig’s R-rated comedy Bridesmaids (Universal) made $7.5 million this weekend bringing its grand total to $136.8 million.

The Johnny Depp actioneer Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Walt Disney Pictures) took 8th place with $6.2 million, having grossed $220 million domestically so far. Internationally, the film earned another $25.9 million to take its impressive foreign total to $731.9 million. “On Stranger Tides” has now reached $952.2 million worldwide for the 11th spot on the all-time global box office chart.

Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris (Sony Pictures Classics) added 94 theaters and ended up in ninth place with $5.2 million, off just 10% from last weekend. Having grossed $21.8 million, it’s less than two million from becoming Allen’s highest-grossing movie in over 25 years.

The Top 10 grossed roughly $143 million, down nearly 30% from the same weekend last year when DisneyPixar’s Toy Story 3 opened with $110.3 million leading to it becoming the highest-grossing movie of the year with over $400 million

Also opening moderately wide in 610 theaters was Gavin Wiesen’s coming-of-age tale The Art of Getting By (Fox Searchlight), starring Freddie Highmore and Emma Roberts, which bombed with just $700 thousand, estimating less than $1.2 thousand per site.